Garbage incinerator



L. T. KNIFE ETAL GARBAGE INCINERATOR Jan. 4, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledJuly 18, 1950 INVENTOR. lE'LA/VD 7T KAI/P6 -E'0BERT w. MAETM/ Jan. 4,1955 L. T. KNIPE ET AL GARBAGE INCINERATOR 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July18, 1950 INVENTOR. ZELfl/VD I K/V/FE ATTOEIVEYS J n- 1 L. T. KNIPE ETALGARBAGE INCINERATOR 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed July 18. 1950 2055,87 W-MAEr/A/ ATTORNEYS United States Patent GARBAGE INCINERATOR Leland T.Knipe, Edmonds, and Robert W. Martin,

Seattle, Wash, assignors to Simplex Incinerator Corporation, Seattle,Wash., a corporation of Washington Application July 18, 1950, Serial No.174,428

2 Claims. (Cl. 110-8) Our invention relates to the incineration ofgarbage and apparatus for carrying out the same. More particularly, ourinvention relates to the incineration of unsegregated garbage withoutthe use of oil burning apparatus or the like to complete theincineration.

In the incineration of unsegregated garbage, without the addition of oilor other combustibles, it is required that there be a burning of aheterogeneous mass which contains many non-combustibles, as tin cans,and the burning of much moisture laden material which is not readilycombustible. Also, in unsegregated garbage there are very likely to bewood and paper boxes or cartons that are readily combustible. Also, inthe incineration of unsegregated garbage, it is necessary that thegarbage be burned or oxidized to the extent that the end product or ashbe sufiiciently oxidized so it will be sterile and not a source ofattracting rodents, flies and other types of animal life and bacteriawhich feed on organic material.

Heretofore many attempts have been made to burn or incinerate garbage,but they have required segregation of the garbage and the addition ofreadily combustible materials as fuel oil.

It is an object of our invention to provide an incinerator for theburning of unsegregated garbage and burn the same without the additionof fuel oil or other combustibles during the incineration, and to obtainnecessary heat for incineration from the combustible components in thegarbage aggregate.

It is a further object of our invention to provide a garbage incineratorwhich has a low draft and at the same time sufiiciently hightemperatures so that smudge or smoke is reduced to a minimum. Obviously,any smudge or smoke arising from a garbage incinerator will haveundesirable odors.

It is a further object of our invention to provide a desired type ofbottom for our incinerator so that all of the ash will have its organiccontent completely oxidized so as to eliminate the possibility of aportion of the ash containing undesirable material as unoxidized organicmaterial.

It is a further object of our invention to provide a garbage incineratorwhich will operate under conditions so that it will not constitute anuisance and may be thus located in urban areas, thus reducing the haulor transportation of garbage from cities to remote garbage incineratorsor dumps.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent asthe description of the same proceeds and the invention will be bestunderstood from a consideration of the following detailed descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming a part of thespecification, with the understanding, however, that the invention isnot to be limited to the exact details of construction shown anddescribed since obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled inthe art.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a somewhat schematic view in elevation, with parts brokenaway and with parts shown in section of a typical installation ofdevices embodying our invention;

Fig. 2 is a view in plan of some of the structure shown in Fig. 1, andwith the screen on the top of the incinerator removed;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view with parts shown in elevation ofportions of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1

2,698,587 Patented Jan. 4, 1955 to illustrate conditions which willexist during incineration of garbage in accordance with our invention;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the bottom of an incinerator embodying ourinvention;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken substantially on broken line 5--5 ofFig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating the bottom of anincinerator embodying our invention;

Fig. 7 is a detached elevational view of a burner grate combinationwhich may be employed in our invention;

Fig. 8 is a View in elevation of one of the grates shown in Fig. 7; and

Fig. 9 is a plan view of the grate shown in Fig. 8.

Referring now to Fig. l of the drawings, any suitable pit 11 isprovided, into which garbage may be dumped, as by dump truck 12, afragment of which is shown toward the right in Fig. 1 of the drawings.Unsegregated garbage may be delivered from the truck 12, which may beeither a truck with loose-filled garbage or with compressed garbage. Itis common practice to deliver garbage for disposal in loose or packedform and our device will incinerate either or both. The pit 11 isprovided with a conveyor 13 forming the floor thereof. The conveyor 13may be driven by any usual means and preferably includes a variablespeed drive. This may comprise variable speed motor 14, connected to anysuitable source of power (not shown). Motor 14 connects with conveyor 13through suitable reduction means as sheaves 15 and link belt means 16.Thus, upon rotation of motor 14 at a desired speed, the conveyor 13 iscaused to travel and any garbage thereon will be delivered from the pit11 and into discharge chute 17. Discharge chute 17 discharges into anupper portion of a cylindrical housing 18. Preferably, a hinged door 19is suspendedly supported across chute 17 so as to normally minimize thesize of the opening between chute 17 and cylindrical housing 18. Thus,the door 19 will have its bottom portion sufiiciently high above thebottom of chute 17 so that most pieces of garbage will slide downwardlyon the floor of chute 17 and the door 19 will remain in its normalsuspended vertical position. However, in case of extra-large siZepieces, they will cause the door 19 to swing inwardly, as indicated bythe dotted line position in Fig. 1, so that the garbage will pass out ofthe chute 17 and into the incinerator which includes the cylindricalhousing 18. A fillet 20 is preferably provided on the inside of thecylindrical housing 18 so as to deflect and divert gases of combustionarising therepast so that said gases pass upwardly of the housing 18 andout through screen 21 rather than into the chute 17. Also, the inclineof the chute 17 is such so as to direct garbage centrally of housing 18at the burning level, which is illustrated in Fig. 3.

It is desirable, in burning garbage, to provide for a limited draft sothat the gaseous products of combustion arise slowly in the incineratorfor most complete combustion, and thus preferably the housing 18 hassubstantially the same diameter throughout its height and is relativelywide compared to its height. In other words, a slow velocity in therising gases is desired so that the gases and particles will have anopportunity to be substantially oxidized as they rise upwardly andbefore they pass screen 21, and this for the purpose of reducing odorsand flying ash to a minimum.

The cylindrical housing 18 is lined with suitable refractory material22" about its periphery. As an example, but not as a limitation of asuccessful device embodying our invention, the cylindrical housing 18may have a diameter of about fifteen feet and a height of aboutthirty-two feet.

The floor for the cylindrical housing 18 preferably comprises aninverted frustro-conical bottom portion 22. The angular relationship ofsaid bottom portions 22 to the horizontal or flat portions 22" may be inthe nature of 45. Also, doors 23 are hingedly connected as by shafts24with the bottom of the housing 18.

Referring to Fig. 5 of the drawings, the doors 23 underlie the openingin the frustro-conical bottom portions 22. In other words, when thedoors 23 are closed, we have a saucer-like bottom with a central openingand a lip formed by portion 22. The doors 23 are preferably formed fromupper and lower metallic surfaces separated by refractory material 27disposed therebetween. The bottom portions 22 are preferably formed ofheat refractory material.

In order to facilitate gravity discharge of ash toward doors 23, guides28 which have their apexes 29 raised above the level of the bottomportions 22 are provided, and thus ash will slide either way from theapexes 29 and toward one of the doors 23.

Each door 23 is hinged on an angularly movable shaft 24 (Figs. 4 and aspreviously described, and said shafts 24 may be suitably operated, asfragmentarily illustrated, by sheaves 30 and link belts 31.

The bottom of our incinerator is provided with an opening indicated by32 in Figs. 3, 5 and 6 of the drawings. Over the opening 32 is provideda grate generally numbered 33' in Figs. 1 to 6, inc., the details ofwhich appear in Figs. 7 to 9 of the drawings.

While many types of grates may be successfully employed in connectionwith our invention, such as that illustrated in the patent to Poor, No.2,412,694, we have found best results with the type of grate shown inFigs. 7 to 9 inc., and particularly in combination with the shape offloor above described. Such grate is relatively not clogible in actualuse and comprises a plurality of ring like sections, preferably disposedin superposed step'like construction as shown and with the rings at thebottom in pairs. Each ring comprises an annular ring portion 33 havingfour spaced legs 34 thus providing for passageways below each ring 33and between spaced legs 34. The spaced legs 34 are preferably providedwith foot portions 35 so that said foot portions 35 of a given ring willfit into the opening of an annular ring 33 positioned below any givenring. The foot portions 35 of a bottom ring (such as the ring shown atthe bottom in Fig. 7) will interfit with and prevent lateraldisplacement of a ring resting on an opening 32 in the bottom of theincinerator. Enough tolerance is provided between the foot portions 35and the floor therebelow or the ring therebelow to allow for expansionand contraction due to temperature conditions which may exist. However,during burning conditions and where temperatures in the neighborhood. ofaround 1700 F. are encountered in the hottest area, the grate 33' isgenerally at relatively cool temperatures and can be touched by oneshand.

The top ring 33 is covered by a suitable cap member 36, and said capmember 36 is provided so that garbage cannot directly fall downwardlyinto the opening 32 (see Fig. 7) which is substantially centrallythroughout the grate and up through which air for combustion passes.Also preferably a connector member 37 (see Fig. 7) is secured to the cap36 and extends downwardly through the opening 32 in the various ringsand is connected with a spring 38. Spring 38 is connected in anysuitable manner (not shown) to the base of the incinerator so that aresilient pressure is provided urging the cap 36 and rings 33 towardeach other and toward the bottom of the incinerator around opening 32 toprevent accidental dis placement as garbage is delivered into theincinerator.

Preferably the incinerator comprising cylindrical housing 18 is disposedat an elevation so that trucks can be positioned directly under thedoors 25 for gravity discharge of the ash into such a truck, illustratedby 33 in Fig. 1. This will require suitable incinerator and trucksupporting means 40. Also, we have illustrated suitable elevations ofthe pit or hopper 11 relative to the cylin drical housing 18 and support40 obtained by the contour of the ground in Fig. l of the drawings.

1n the operation of our invention, garbage is delivered into theincinerator and to substantially the level indicated by the line 41 inFig. 3. Thereafter, suitable material, such as cellulose fiber dipped inkerosene, is inserted up through the grate and into some of the openingsbetween the spaced legs 34. Thereafter, such inflammable material isignited and, after a relatively short period in most instances, thegarbage around the grate 33 becomes ignited and such fire tends to burnthe garbage to the level indicated by line 42 in Fig. 3 of the drawings,and then the smoke and fire tend to channel through the garbage, as isindicated by the passageways 43 in Fig. 3. As soon as a suitable fire isstarted, then garbage in regulated amounts is delivered down chute 17and the amount of garbage is regulated to maintain the level 41.

By maintaining the garbage to a level to that approximately illustratedby the line 41 in Fig. 3, we have a blanket over the fire and with thefire channeling out through the garbage to discharge the gaseousproducts of combustion. However, a temperature is maintainedsufliciently hot at an area slightly removed from the burner andindicated by the line 42 in Fig. 3 so that temperatures in theneighborhood of over 1700 F. are generally encountered. This temperaturewas determined by pyrometer readings and by the fact that glass bottlesand the like in garbage were fused and melted. Also, in typicalinstallations embodying our invention, it has been found that lightgauge tin cans are melted and that even heavier gauge tin cans aresutficiently oxidized so that they readily deteriorate upon removal fromthe incinerator.

In garbage incineration, it is not only desirable to reduce the bulk ofthe original garbage as compared to the ash, but it is highly desirableto oxidize organic material in the garbage. In incinerators involvingour invention, we have been able to reduce the bulk so that the residueash is less than 10% of the original volume and less than three percentof the original weight. Also, we have been able to sufficiently oxidizeunsegregated garbage to such an extent that the organic content is solow that the ash is substantially sterile so far as sustaining flies orrodents or other undesirable life or bacteria.

Next, in the operation of devices embodying our invention, the velocityof discharge of the gases is reduced to a minimum so that combustiblegases are allowed to remain in the incinerator for a sufiicient time soas to substantially burn combustibles initially remaining in thedischarging gases. Also, due to our apparatus and the method of feedingthe fire, relatively low temperatures exist around the grate 33 and thusprovide for prolonged life of grates. Also, by operation of ourinvention in the manner described, temperatures are relatively high inthe zone adjacent but not contiguous with the grate 33'. Thus, we findthat the ash produced in our incinerator burns very cleanly in theneighborhood of the floor. We have found that the particular shape ofour floor tends to cause very clean and complete burning in theneighborhood of the floor area. Most unsegregated garbage tends tointertwine and form an intertangled mass which is generallyself-supporting. Apparently this accounts for the reason for the burningaway of the garbage contiguous with the grate 33' and thus duringburning the garbage is generally self-supporting so that the burningarea is adjacent the line 42 in Fig. 3 of the drawings and thus untilthe garbage is reduced to a substantially completely combusted state, itdoes not tend to fall down to the floor but maintains the burning zoneabove described.

in our invention we employ the garbage about the burning zone as ablanket to maintain relatively high and intense heat in the burningzone, and furthermore, said garbage works as a heat insulating materialand reduces the temperature adjacent the side walls of the incinerator;furthermore, the air passing through the grate to support combustion isat substantially one atmosphere pressure and not only tends to keep thegrate cool but becomes warm because of contact with the previouslyburned material about the grate and thus heated air is furnished whichtends to accelerate combustion. The air should be introduced throughoutthe burning zone, and thus as an illustration, if the cylindricalhousing 18 has a diameter of fifteen feet and a height of thirty-twofeet, then the grate 33' may have an overall height of five and onehalffeet. This provides for the introduction of air at substantiallyatmospheric pressure throughout the combustion zone.

In a general way. we provide a construction and method where the garbageprovides for not only insulating the side walls of cylindrical housing18 but serves as a blanket to maintain a temperature zone of intenseheat substantially centrally of the garbage. The high or elongatedcylindrical housing 18 provides for low velocity of the ascending gasesof combustion, and thus eliminates fly ash and provides for a maximumcombustion of the discharging gases and particles carried thereby.

Obviously, changes may be made in the form, dimensions and arrangementof the parts of our invention, without departing from the principlethereof, the above setting forth only a preferred form of embodiment.

We claim:

1. A garbage incinerator comprising a relatively high tubular member ofsubstantially uniform diameter throughout its height and being open atthe top thereof over its entire diameter, a floor disposed across theinterior of the lower end of said tubular member and formingthe bottomof a combustion chamber, said floor being partially flat and partiallyof an inverted frustroconical design with the peripheral portionsthereof being inclined inwardly and downwardly of the tubular member tothe horizontal fiat portion of the floor, the flat portion of the floorbeing provided with a substantially centrally disposed aperture anddischarge openings on each side of said centrally disposed aperture,said aperture communicating directly with the atmosphere, a vcr' ticallydisposed hollow grate having laterally directed ait feeding openingsmounted on the flat portion of the floor directly over the centrallydisposed aperture, said grate having a height which is a plurality oftimes greater than its diameter, and the height thereof being aplurality of times less than the height of said tubular member, anddischarge gate means movable into and out of substantially completeclosing position relative to said discharge openings in said floor.

2. The combination of claim 1, wherein guide means are provided on thefloor member and between said discharge openings to direct ash towardsaid discharge openings.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS524,687 Ransome Aug. 14, 1894 548,254 Horsfall Oct. 22, 1895 545,975Ransome ..-Sept. 10, 1895 895,129 Van Doren Aug. 4, 1908 1,199,727Bedard Sept. 26, 1916 1,303,108 Oehmen May 6, 1919 1,763,159 Klein June10, 1930 1,842,277 Mattekovich Ian. 19, 1932 1,952,227 Adams Mar. 27,1934 2,412,694 Poor Dec. 17, 1946

